Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Jokes, Humour & Funny stories 🤣😹🙈😆 · Follow Posted by JJM  7h  [no date] "Oldie but a beaut. A cabbie picks up a nun. She gets in the back seat, and after a few minutes, she notices the very handsome driver keeps staring at her. She finally asks “My child, why are you staring at me?” He hesitates and says “I… I have a question, but I don´t want to offend you.” She smiles kindly and replies, “My son,  I´ve been a nun a long time. I´ve heard just about everything. I promise you, nothing you say will offend me.” So he says “Alright… I´ve always had a fantasy to be kissed by a nun.” She pauses, then says “Well…. Let´s see what we can do. Are you single?” “Yes!” he says, excited. “And are you Catholic?” “Absolutely!” She nods “Then pull into that alley.” He does, and she give him a kiss so passionate it could melt stained glass. As they drive away, the cabbie starts crying. The nun gently asks, “My dear child, why are you crying?” He sniffles and says “Forgive me, S...

Elena Gold   "Lived through the collapse of the Soviet Unio n." (JB: note mention below of the respected former  U.S. Ambassador to Russia, scholar Michael McFaul.) When do you think the war in Ukraine will end, and under what conditions? The war in Ukraine will end when Putin ends. Of if the Russian Federation ends. Whichever comes sooner. Putin made it very clear that he’s not going to stop waging the war—and even if Ukraine surrendered the territories Putin demands (but can’t take militarily for 12 years), he still has more demands: Russia wants NATO to withdraw its forces to pre-1997 borders, leaving the Baltics, Poland, and East European countries defenseless. Sweden and Finland became NATO members after Putin’s December 2021 ultimatum, so he would demand that they also withdraw from NATO. But most of all, Putin still wants to own the whole of Ukraine—his claim remains that “Ukraine is Russia.” So, the only way to stop the war is to ensure that Russia can no longer wage ...

The Kremlin’s sabotage campaign against European allies of Ukraine has been escalating. It needs people like Aleksei Kolosovsky, 42, to carry it out.   A 2024 arson attack outside Warsaw was one of several plots carried out in Europe by a criminal network on behalf of Russian intelligence services, according to European officials. Credit... Norbert Ofmanski/Associated Press By  Michael Schwirtz  and  Adam Goldman Michael Schwirtz and Adam Goldman have investigated Russian intelligence operations for more than a decade. For this article, they traveled to eight European countries, gathering information about the Kremlin’s sabotage campaign. The New York Times , Feb. 22, 2026 Updated  9:02 a.m. ET The plots, say Western security officials, are part of a shadow war by Russia’s intelligence services. An arson attack that destroyed more than 1,000 businesses outside Warsaw. Another that burned an IKEA in Lithuania. A plan to put incendiary devices on cargo planes in ...